Adaptation is a key to the Ag Leadership experience. It’s a lesson we have all learned throughout our careers in agriculture, but there is something about the National Trip that requires a new level of understanding. Leading 23 other high-performing leaders in this space takes adaptability, patience, and a calm demeanor. We want to start this blog off by thanking our Presiding Fellows – Scott McArthur, Bryce Spycher, and Aman Virk for an amazing day that had unexpected twists and turns. Their guidance kept Class 53 well-informed and together.
Our morning began with a class meeting, and as some may know, those are kept confidential. Following that, we rideshared to the State Department for security clearance and entrance into the building. The power of the building is something you can feel. Diplomats from around the world were showing up for discussions with top officials representing the United States. As many know, schedules often shift, and we arrived with over an hour to spare. That allowed us time for a group photo on the lawn with magnolia blossoms and time to explore the National Academy of Sciences, where several of us enjoyed time wandering the hall and viewing the exhibits on display.
After an hour of enjoying the surrounding area, it was time to return to the State Department building for our first meeting of the day. We passed through security and were escorted into the building by Dr. Boenish and his team to a meeting room on the fourth floor. Caffeinated and ready to learn, our meeting started at 11 AM with our first four speakers. The team we met with consisted of members from the Policy, Economic and Development Affairs & Global Food Safety – Director Paul Harrison, Dr. Robert Boenish, Mr. Vito Su and Mr. Aaron Schwoebel. Boenish and Su are both Ag Leadership DC Exchange graduates. Director Harrison led the discussion with his personal story and leadership journey from growing up on a hobby farm to the Foreign Service to the Director of Agriculture Policy. He shared with us the State Department’s top three priorities: Food security, promoting American agricultural exports, and biotechnology. All these are long-term goals for the department to maintain and open markets for American agriculture. We ended with a question-and-answer session with our speakers where the questions ranged from global market entry issues to leadership skills and development. We thanked our speakers for their generous time and candor.
Following a quick lunch organized by foundation staff, a vivacious individual graced us with his presence. In preparation for our international trip this fall to Southeast Asia, Class 53 had the pleasure to chat with U.S. State Department of Laos desk staff member, David Robbie. While David might consider himself a “paper pusher”, it is evident that his role far exceeds that description. Extensive knowledge attained over ten years as a foreign officer has set the foundation to execute the vision the U.S. State Department has for Laos. The relationship between the United States and Laos has evolved significantly over the years, marked by periods of tension, cooperation, and gradual normalization. Largely shaped by the Vietnam War (1955-1975), the U.S. conducted secret bombing campaigns in Laos leaving unexploded ordnance that continues to pose a threat to the population today. From a food security and agriculturalist perspective, this means that farming communities in Southeastern Asia affected by the Vietnam War are restricted from working their lands due to a threat that was established decades ago. According to Robbie, “the goal by 2030 is that 90% of farmable land will be clear of unexploded ordnance.” President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Laos in September 2016 marked the first time a sitting U.S. president had visited the country. In an attempt to strengthen bilateral relations, Obama engaged with Lao leaders on various issues of mutual interest. Class 53’s visit to Laos coincides with the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit that will be held in Vientiane, Laos. This event requires meticulous planning, coordination, and execution by the government of Laos, and we are looking forward to arriving on the tail-end of the summit to learn and engage on the priority issues that are impacting Southeast Asian countries. Although representatives from Cambodia and Thailand were unavailable due to work engagements, David shared some insight on current events. Fun fact: The United States is the largest export market for Cambodia!
Class 53 was able to dive into the cultural and political importance of foreign government relationships and engagement. It was said to the group “A strong country doesn’t fear its people saying negative things about its country”, which tied in perfectly with the final speaker of the day. Our journey today has taken us from agriculture policy execution to foreign relations and ending back home in the Capitol with a taste of day-to-day communication and the important role the media has in connecting all the information to constituents daily.
Our final session of the day was led by Matt Fuller, Washington Bureau Chief for the Daily Beast. Matt gave us an inside look at an “average” Tuesday for a Press agent as he reports on the House of Representatives. Every Tuesday at 9am, Democrats and Republicans hold separate meetings where the leadership goes over the business of the week. New policy ideas are floated, and strategies are discussed. D’s call it a caucus and R’s call it a conference, but the process is largely the same. These meetings are completely off-the-record, meaning the members who attend don’t share the details of what occurred. The press will often sit outside the meeting rooms and catch members as they come and go, even asking them questions as they exit to take bathroom breaks. The meetings end at 10am, and at 10:15 the first press conferences of the day start. Matt recalled a favorite quote from former Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, “you gotta feed the alligators, otherwise, they’ll eat you.” It is the job of the press to publish newsworthy stories, and if politicians are providing true and compelling stories to the press, it enables them to exert a measure of control of the news cycle narrative. This doesn’t mean that the press won’t go find their own news stories, rather it means that politicians can and do craft news narratives to their advantage when the chance befalls them. A natural facet of capitalism in effect. Continuing the arc of an average Tuesday, at 1:30pm the first vote happens on the House floor. House members walk to and from the floor via a long tunnel under the Capitol. The press can walk the tunnel as well, and a good press agent can talk to 10-20 Members both before and after a vote. Usually, they are more talkative as they are leaving the floor. Matt’s personal style is to ask straight, no-nonsense questions without “gotchas”. He prefers to have many short conversations rather than a few long conversations. With this method, he feels he can grasp the bigger picture of whether members have a firm understanding of whatever subject he is making a story on. Sometimes the Press can observe inconsistencies between a stated position and a recorded position (ie voting history), and ask Members about it. At this point, the press agent should be able to write their story. After sharing this insightful narrative with us, Matt wanted to make sure he addressed some commonly mentioned misinformation about the press. Mainstream news is not “fake news”. A reporter does not normally lie in their stories, as their career reputation would quickly be ruined. They may not get 100% of their stories right, but that rarely occurs from the press being deceptive.
Finally, Matt gave some expert advice to a question posed by CALP fellow Kristi Robinson, “California Agriculture has been bit by alligators a time or two, how can we get better at feeding them?” His response was to start by engaging reporters off the record. Ask them how you can help them. Reporters love to tell you how you can help them. Then, don’t respond right away. Pause, think strategically, and get back to them after you have thought about how you want the narrative to go. Ask them to clear their quotes with you before publishing a story. Ask them what story they are trying to write. Get off the record with them and discuss the issue honestly. Don’t ignore them and give up your seat at the table. Feed the alligators.
Today was another compelling and expertly crafted day in the national seminar. Foreign policy, federal policymaking, and the relationship between the press and Congress were exposed to us in ways that felt intimate in their practice while revealing the grand scale that the machinery of our national government must operate on. We continue to zoom out and see systems in play that affect each of us in more ways than we can count. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!
Gratefully,
Kurt Metheny, Deissy Ibarra, Jack Norton and Class 53
